Dell PowerVault ME5 Series Administrator's Guide

Viewing certificate information

You can view controller certificate information in the Certificates panel (Settings > Network > Certificates). By default, the system generates a unique SSL certificate for each controller. For the strongest security, replace the default system- generated certificate with a certificate issued from a trusted certificate authority.

The Certificates panel shows information for the active SSL certificates that are stored on the system for each controller. Controller A and Controller B tabs contain unformatted certificate text for each of the corresponding controllers. The panel also shows one of the following status values as well as the creation date for each certificate:

• Customer-supplied—Indicates that the controller is using a certificate that you have uploaded.
• System-generated—Indicates that the controller is using an active certificate and key that were created by the controller.
• Unknown status—Indicates that the controller module certificate cannot be read. This situation occurs most often when a controller is restarting or certificate replacement is still in progress, or you have selected the tab for a partner controller in a single-controller system

You can use your own certificates by uploading them through SFTP or by using the contents parameter of the create certificate CLI command to create certificates with your own unique certificate content. For a new certificate to take effect, you must restart the affected Management Controller. To restart a controller, select Maintenance > Hardware > Rear View > Enclosure Actions > Restart/Shutdown System > Restart MC and follow the on-screen instructions.

To verify that the certificate replacement was successful and the controller is using the certificate that you have supplied, make sure the certificate status is customer-supplied, the creation date is correct, and the certificate content is the expected text.

For details pertaining to supported certificate criteria, see Installing a security certificate. ‌